When I'm Gone
by VickyZeroKitty
Summary: *Changing* The Crystal Gems explore an ancient Gem crypt. What could be lurking in the looming darkness of the old, seemingly deserted place?
1. Start

Yo!

Got bored waiting for morning on Minecraft so I decided to type up this small chapter to a new story. It was just something that came to mind while I was waiting, so I thought 'why not'.

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><p>"Can I go with you guys, pleeeeeease!" Steven cried as he gripped Pearl's skirt, knowing it was she who he would have to convince to let him go along with the Crystal Gems on their next mission.<p>

"now, Steven-" Pearl started, but was quickly cut off by another cry from Steven.

"Come on, Pearl! I can take of myself! I promise I won't get hurt!" Steven looked up to her with big, pleading eyes.

A frown came to Pearl's face and her eyebrows knitted as she tried her best to resist Steven pleas.

"oh, come on, Pearl! You never give Steven a chance to come with us!" Amethyst joined in.

Pearl looked over to Garnet, but received no help. Garnet just stood in place, silent and without an opinion. Pearl looked back down to Steven and sighed, "I'm sorry, Steven, but I don't think it would be a smart choice to let you come with us."

Steven's pleading look turned to one of a kicked puppy. His grip on Pearl's skirt tighten a moment before he let go. With a small, almost inaudible sniff, he turned and head towards the stairs, shoulders slumped and head down.

Pearl watched him go, feeling her guilt grow as he slowly made his way towards the stairs, but she knew her choice was only for his well-being. She turned towards the others, no longer able to watch Steven. Garnet stood solemnly while Amethyst glared at her with her arms crossed.

"What?" Pearl questioned Amethyst with a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

"Humph!" was all that Amethyst replied with.

Pearl knew Amethyst was mad at her for making Steven upset. Quickly becoming irritated, Pearl defended her decision.

"You know as well as I do that it's too dangerous for Steven to come with us! Don't get angry with me for wanting him to be safe!" Pearl raised her voice a bit, and swept her hand through the air in front her as if to signify the end of the discussion.

Amethyst's eyes narrowed even further when Pearl raised her voice. She was not about to let Pearl drop the conversation until she let her have a piece of mind over the subject at hand. She drew arms to her sides and fisted her hands. With a bit of growl, Amethyst bit back, "Don't try playing that card with me, Pearl! You know how much it means to Steven to go on missions with us! If you keep babying him like this, he'll never learn how use his gem!"

Flabbergasted, Pearl's eyes widened as she took offense from Amethyst's words. She quickly covered her astonishment with a glare and was about to retort, when Garnet's voice interrupted her, "you know how much Steven's gem means to him."

Pearl looked to Garnet, all angry gone in an instant. She considered Garnet's words and remembered that the gem originally belonged to Steven's mother. She looked down, ashamed.

"Come on, we have a mission to complete," Garnet's monotonous voice announced. Garnet and Amethyst headed towards the teleporter, but Pearl lingered behind for moment. She looked over her shoulder, back to where the stairs were. She thought about Steven and whispered to herself, "I'm sorry, " before following her companions.

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><p>I'm quite infamous for not updating my stories, but I will get around to it. Eventually. I'll probably fix up later if I remember, but I hope you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.<p> 


	2. The Crypt

Guess who was playing Minecraft, again.

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><p>Pearl crept through a dark crypt. She had felt like she had been wandering the strange corridors for centuries, after she had gotten separated from the others. She had the unfortunate luck of misplacing her footing and falling a ways down to a strange part of the ancient building. She sighed inwardly as she replayed the events in her head.<p>

_The Crystal Gems had only been ten minutes into the mission when they had stopped in large, stone room within the ruins of an old gem church. Pearl gazed around. Strange markings were carved into the walls of the room and golden chalices, bowls, and pedestals were strewn about in a disorderly fashion. Discolored banners hung haphazardly in tatters against the wall. All stained glass windows on either side of the walls were permanently tinted a dark color as the glass seemed to have warped after many years without care. Everything was coated in a very thick layer of dust. She frowned slightly. Though she had never been involved in the more religious side of her culture, it was still a shame to see the placed left in such a state of array. Pearl was lead away from her disapprobation when she heard Amethyst speak up._

"_Geez, who knew those uptight gems could throw one heck of a party?" Amethyst joked as she casually picked up a chalice and inspected it, "They didn't even invite me." _

_She threw the chalice over her shoulder. The gold goblet hit a decaying statue, causing to further crack and crumble. Instantly becoming heated from the repugnant act, Pearl felt inclined to chastise Amethyst for being so disrespectful with what little was left behind of the old, religious facility. _

"_Amethyst!" Pearl yelled in anger, "Have more respect for this place! It already in ruins and your habits are not helping the situation any!" _

_With instant hostility, Amethyst was quick with her retort, "MY HABITS? Oh okay, I see. I have to respect this place when the gems that use to own it didn't even care for it!? Look at this place! What's left to ruin? But I guess with my habits, I'm sure I'll find something to mess up, right?" _

_Biting back some of her anger, Amethyst smiled maliciously and kicked a bowl near her foot with incredible force toward Pearl, not allowing her the chance to speak when she saw her open her mouth to say something more. The petite gem dodged the object easily just as Amethyst expected, and the golden bowl was buried into the wall behind Pearl. Her smile melted down to a brooding frown. She turned away a began walking over to Garnet who was standing by a door on the other side of the room, not caring to continue lingering in the dusty, old room any longer now that her spirit was dampened by Pearl. _

_Pearl dodged the bowl gracefully and with relative ease. She was use to being Amethyst's target for mischief or anger after many years together. She was still going to continue her point, but stopped herself when she saw Amethyst with her back facing toward her, walking away. She decided to just furrow her eyebrows instead and click her tongue with a loud sigh. She couldn't believe there mission had already turned soured when it had only begun. She turned around herself, walking over to where the bowl had implanted itself into the wall, cracks spreading out from the source of impalement. _

_Pearl tugged the bowl out, figuring it would be more respectful to remove it instead of leaving it to be. After a few seconds of yanking at the worn and now bent object, she was able to free the thing. Standing a bit proudly at her accomplishment, she examined the bent metal to see if it was repairable. She did not notice the deep cracks that had spider-webbed further due to her actions. _

_A large cracking noise echoed throughout the room, the ground gave in underneath Pearl. Catching her off guard, she was unable to react fast enough and fell into an abyss of darkness alongside some large pieces of stone from the floor and wall. She felt a sudden sharp pain as she made impact with another, more sturdy stone floor. She felt more pain as piece of the floor and wall pelted her, leaving her in a dazed state. Dust and dirt flew everywhere._

"_Pearl!" a cry of unison could be heard from above where Pearl had landed._

_The two kneeled down beside the gaping hole in the ground. They looked over the edge of the opening to try and search for their friend, but the cloud of debris was too thick to make anything out. _

"_Pearl, are you okay?" Amethyst called out, but no reply was given. Garnet and Amethyst swapped looks, and their frantic eyes returned the aftermath of the cave in. After a minute or two of silence, the dust had finally cleared. The two could only barely make out the outline of Pearl among the piece of rock in the little light that casted down into the darkness from above them. Pearl moaned quietly as she began to stir amidst the rubble. She sat up slowly, the rocks covering her slipping off on either side of her. She was already feeling sore from fall. _

_She was covered in dirt and dust with a few cuts, but nothing major seemed to be wrong with her. She placed a hand on her head, but instantly flinched from pain. Withdrawing her hand, she saw that it was covered in blood from a deep gash near her gem. She closed her eyes for a moment and drew up the motivation to snap out of daze and try to stand up. She did, but with a bit trouble balancing herself. It took a moment before she was able to recover from her dizzy spell and realize the two odd shadows being casted on her. She placed her hand on her head again to try and slow the bleeding and looked up. She saw Garnet and Amethyst looking down at her with worried expressions on their faces. _

"_Don't worry, we're coming down to get you," Garnet's voice echoed down to Pearl as they began to get up from their kneeling positions._

_Pearl stood there a moment, processing Garnet's words, until they finally sunk in. Her eyes widened as she felt the haze clouding her mind finally begin to wear off and be replaced with a dull pain. _

"_No, I'm fine. Don't come down here, we've already wasted enough time. We don't need to be wasting more wandering around in the dark," she replied back, stopping the other two gems for a moment, "You two will be able to find the gem faster if you stay on the correct path." _

"_The mission can wait, we're coming down for you," Garnet said authoritatively._

"_Garnet, I'm fine, really," Pearl insisted, "just go and find the gem without me. I'll wait here and try to heal a bit until you two return." She squinted her eyes, trying to break through the darkness around her, but could see nothing, "Besides, I don't think there's anything down here."_

_Garnet was silent for a moment, seemingly considering Pearl's words. _

"_Only if you promise not to move from that spot," Garnet finally spoke. _

_Pearl quirked an eyebrow and looked back to Garnet. She felt as if she was being treated like Steven. _

"_I'm not a child, Garnet. I can stay put," Pearl scoffed. _

"_Pearl," Garnet warned, fixating a hard stare on her as she crossed her arms._

_Pearl rolled her eyes, "I promise."_

"_Alright, then. Come on, Amethyst," Garnet turned and left out of Pearl's view. _

_Amethyst laughed a bit, her mood lightening up a bit after seeing Pearl being put in place by Garnet. _

"_Have fun," Amethyst smiled down to Pearl lazily as she waved and departed, too. _

_Pearl sat down on a large rock that fell down with her when the floor had collapsed. There was nothing but silence around her. She sat watching the dust particles floating around in the air for awhile, her body slowly healing itself, though she soon became bored. She looked around. She had appeared to have landed in another room of some sorts. Her curiosity piqued, but she quickly quashed the feeling and continue to remain where she was seated. _

_She sat for a long while in the darkness, just as promise, that is…_

…_until she began hearing strange noise to which she had gotten no response to when she called out in questioning. _

Eerie would have been an understatement to describe the place as she peered around a turn in the dark hallway and saw faint, red splotches encase the black walls. They gave off a weak glow, but it was nowhere near enough to allow her to see what was ahead or even a couple of inches away from the smooth rock-like spots. She swallowed hard, something felt very off. She felt almost as if she was being watched.

She gripped her spear tighter, and brought it closer to her chest as she slid off the wall she had had her back against. Pearl took a glance behind herself to make sure there was nothing following her. She stood in silence, careful not to make too much noise and bit her lip. She had considered turning back and waiting at the location she had been separated from Garnet and Amethyst, but she continued her path down the hall. She had to keep moving forward, it was too late to turn back now. She had followed so many twists and turns up to this point, she highly doubted that she would even be able to find her way back.

Cautiously, she made her way further into the darkness. Soon, she could barely see anything at all. The red, illuminated parts of the wall were absolutely no help to her; she had to rely on the very dim glow of her spear as she guided herself by placing her left hand on the smooth walls of the hallways. The walls were cold and damp, but she was able to follow the curves and turns of the path as her feet lightly echoed in the empty space around her. She could only hope to be going, in some form, "the right direction", though ironically she had only been sticking to make left turns when the occasions presented themselves.

"I feel like I'm making no progress," Pearl said to herself with a hushed voice, breaking the silence that had been surrounding her for some time. Pearl stopped once more and tried to make out where she was in the darkness, but it was no use. She began to feel dispirited. She should have listened to Garnet. She began to sink back into her thoughts again.

_What if they've already found them gem?_ _Garnet will be so mad if she finds that I'm not there… I can't believe it; I'm actually starting to sound like Steven….Poor Steven. I'm glad he didn't come along. What if he were the one to have fallen instead of me?_

Pearl smiled to herself lightly as she began to think of Steven. He was so sweet and cheerful; she wouldn't know what she would do if he ever got hurt. She continued to think of Steven for a moment and of a way to make up for denying him from coming on their current mission as she decided to keep moving.

Pearl was about to continue walking when she heard something in the dark.

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><p>Hey, look! An update. I told you guys I would updated (even though I'm extremely late). So, late in fact, that Pearl actually has a different outfit. I wanted to write more, but I gotta wake up early for school tomorrow, so sorry to leave y'all hanging with this poorly written chapter.<p>

p.s. I don't really have a set plot for this, so I'm sorry if it's really obvious that I'm just winging it.


	3. The Beast

Pearl spun around as fast as her reactions allowed. She had her spear pointed out in front of her, taking on an offense stance. Her eyes darted around in the dark, but her attempts to see what could have possibly made the noise were futile. Her eyes couldn't pierce through the thick shadows that trailed behind her.

She froze; weary of a possible enemy following her, but no sound was heard aside from her own quivering breathing. She slowly backed up, jumping as the cold, damp surface of the wall collided with her back when she had met yet another split of the hallway. She allowed one hand to trail away from her spear as she used it to guide her along the direction she chose.

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><p>Amethyst trailed slightly behind Garnet as she looked at the wall around them. They had been following a long, torch lit hallway for quite some time, but the stone walls around them had progressively become dirty with an unknown sticky, tar-like substance as they progressed.<p>

"Hey, Garnet?" Amethyst looked at the back of Garnet's squared-shaped head.

"Yes?" the taller gem replied.

"You have noticed the walls, right?" Amethyst questioned.

Garnet simply hummed.

Amethyst took that as a 'yes' and continued as she touched the black substance dripping almost lethargically down the wall from the ceiling high above them, "this gunk seems to be getting worse the further we go. What the heck do you think this stuff is?"

"I'm not sure, but it's probably best if we don't touch it," Garnet answered as she peered over her shoulder to see Amethyst touching the unknown substance. She pulled her hand away, leaving a stringing trail of black goo between her hand and the source. Amethyst saw Garnet watching her and smiled coyly as she whipped her wrist back and forth to get the clinging stuff off of her.

Garnet stopped walking and turned around, placing a hand on her hip as she smiled at the purple gem. She watched as Amethyst struggled to get the goo off herself with much zeal before the black substance was sent smacking onto the floor between them by the shorter gem.

"Geez, that stuff wouldn't let go," Amethyst laughed, but was cut short by a warbling noise coming from the substance on the ground. Both gems looked down, dumbfounded, when they noticed that goo was moving around spastically and growing in size.

"What the-"Amethyst shouted as the black slime shot off from the walls around them and collectively gathered together with the bit Amethyst had left on the ground. Both gems had to move back to avoid the substance.

The warbling noise the goo was giving off had grown in noise as it took shape. A minute or two had passed before it took form of an odd, extended, tar drenched wildebeest-like creature with two sets of arms instead of forelegs, two glowing red slits for eyes, and red, dimly glowing crystals jutting from its lower back. The creature raised its long face, black slime dripping down and off its neck onto the ground, and roared loudly, shaking the walls around them. Amethyst and Garnet had struggled to keep their balance before Garnet summoned her gauntlets to attack the beast, but it had already reared its head back, and charged forward toward Amethyst.

"Amethyst! Look out!" Garnet warned as she ran after the beast.

Amethyst pulled out her whip from her gem, her eyes wide with shock. She quickly lashed her whip at the face of the beast. The whip embedded itself across the creature's face, leaving a deep slash in the black tar, but more slime dripped over the wound and healed it almost instantly. Amethyst quickly tried to reel her whip back, but the beast had actually begun to absorb it into its body. Amethyst quickly summoned another whip, still holding onto the other, but it was too late. The creature's head crashed into Amethyst with great force, capturing her in the sticky blackness. Amethyst struggled to free herself as she felt the slime drip across her face. Most of her body was stuck helplessly in the creature's large head, and she panicked as she felt herself beginning to sink slowly further into the creature.

"Garnet! Garnet! Help! It's sucking me in and I can't get out!" Amethyst cried out, but the last bit of her sent coming out garbled due to her face getting covered by the goo.

"Amethyst!" Garnet cried out as she leapt into the air and crashed down on the beast's back, gauntlets first.

The beast staggered and slime expelled in all directions from the impact. Garnet had thought she inflicted some damage on the beast and was going to send down an assault of punches, but was shocked to find that she couldn't move her hands from the spots that they had made contact with the monster's body. Slime crawled up and in between every crevice of Garnet's gauntlets, as it began to absorb her into its body, as well. Garnet dispersed her gauntlets and quickly retracted her hands before the slime could wrap around them. She tried to move, but she had already sunk ankle deep into the creature. Garnet quickly tried to see if Amethyst was still at the surface of the beast, but she could only see Amethyst's disheveled hair from her position; she had to sunk too far in to even cry out anymore. Fear crossed Garnet's face, adrenaline filling her out of fear for her friend.

"No!" Garnet yelled as she used all her strength to pull her one of her feet out from the beast's back. Sticky, black goo dripped down from the foot she had managed to free. Hope had sparked within her.

The monster let out another thunderous roar and bucked wildly. Garnet tried her best to stay balanced on the creature's back, but the she fell forward.

Garnet couldn't move as she was sucked down into the inky blackness.

Pearl was now running down the path she had chosen. She had heard- and felt- what sounded like some kind of creature roaring. Though it had sounded as though it had come from somewhere above where she was, she didn't want to stick around to see whether or not she was right. She was at a disadvantage in the complete dark. She needed to find a way out, or at least a more well lit area, and soon.

Pounding noise reverberated in the hall she was in as she heard the sound of crumbling stone.

Pearl ran faster, running smack-dab into a wall in the dark. She fell backwards, her spear dispersing from loss of concentration. She quickly placed a hand over her now bleeding nose. She saw stars for a second and felt tears rise to her eyes from the impact, but quickly got to her feet again. She had obviously had run into yet another split in hall. She looked in one direction to decide which way to go, but was scared almost witless when she saw four, red glowing eyes staring at her in the distance.

Not hesitating, Pearl dashed down the hall opposite of the eyes. She heard the sound of panting and huffing as she ground shook from the creature pursuing her. Her mind raced with random, panicked thoughts as she tried to come up with an idea. The monster was getting closer, she could feel it. She let a small, desperate cry to herself when she could think of nothing. She felt helpless as she ran.

She considered stopping and trying to fight the creature before it got any closer, but she knew that was foolish thinking. Whatever was following obviously big by how it shook the ground as it ran and it was possible that it could see in the dark, unlike her. She was also uncertain whether she would be able to summon her spear in her state of panic.

She prayed to Rose for help, seeing nothing more that she could do, and as if her prayers were heard, she could see a red speck of light in the distance. The closer she got, the more she could tell that the red speck was actually some kind of rectangular opening. Relief washed over her and she almost yelled out in gratitude, but was too preoccupied with running. She tried to run faster toward the light, the monster behind her close on her heels.

She ran straight into a red-lit room with large pillars and some odd alter with a depiction of an event involving three diamonds rather than some kind of deity. Everything in the room seemed preserved and intact, unlike most things she had witness thus far in the temple.

Not having any time to dawdle on the state of the room she entered, she quickly spun on her heels, kicking up a bit of dirt in the process, and got ready to face whatever was following her.

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><p>Sorry this is short. I might post another chapter tomorrow to make up for this being so short, but it's 4 a.m. and I'm too tired to keep writing.<p>

Thanks for reading and sticking to my story! I really appreciate it!


	4. Consumption

Pearl gasped at the monstrosity before her as it smashed its way through the small opening that Pearl had used only seconds ago. The wall around the opening crumbled and fell all around the creature that had pursued her, kicking up dust in large plumes and shaking loose rocks and stone free to fall from overhead. Pearl leapt a good distance backwards, avoiding the debris.

She crouched down and slinked through the cloud of dust to avoid automatic detection from the beast. She could feel the sweat gather at her brow as she heard gruff panting and the shuffling movement of the creature as it moved around. Slowly, the haze of the dust began to settle as Pearl's eyes began to fully adjust to the red light of the room, making out the image of what looked to be large horns poking out above the haze of dust. She considered drawing her spear, but calculated the risk of drawing the beast's attention was far too high for her liking. She moved cautiously around the beast, its outline becoming more and more clear by the passing seconds. It wasn't as big she had previously thought, but it was still considerably larger than her. When the dust had finally settled, Pearl noticed that the creature resembled something quite close to a bovid that had managed to drag its way out of a tar pit with a dark colored gem jutting out from its upper back. A dark substance dripped off it in large amounts, pooling around its feet.

Pearl's skin crawled as she watched the slick, viscous substance slowly roll of the monster and string down to the dusty floor. She quickly glanced over to where the opening had used to be and saw that it had caved in after the creature had entered the room. She felt the sick feeling of panic slowly well up inside her again. Her eyes darted around the room, trying to find another escape root, but the walls were all solid, with no other exits in visible sight. She was trapped. Her eyes quickly shot back to the bovid monster before her. She was trapped with this _thing_.

The creature moved slowly around the room, crushing the fallen rocks underneath it as it moved. Its four eyes scanned the room. Pearl held her breath. Though she would've much rather fled, she saw no other choice than to engage the beast in combat. She tried her best to swallow down her nerves. She set her jaw; if she played her cards right, she could possibly sneak up on the beast.

Like a predator stalking her prey, she moved slowly up on the bovid beast from behind.

The monster's large nostrils flared, taking in the scents that filled the room. It picked up Pearl's scent easily. Its head moved toward Pearl's direction.

Pearl's hand rose to her forehead as she slowly summoned forth her spear, doing her best to try to stay as inconspicuous as possible. The bright, light blue object was blatantly obvious in the rather dark, red-lit room.

The creature whipped its head around to the sudden brightness in the room that its eyes caught sight of, locking onto Pearl. With a gruff snort, it let out a guttural cry and charged at Pearl.

Pearl let out a frustrated sigh as fully summoned her spear, "I knew that wouldn't work…"

Though she knew her chance of detection was high, she felt as though it was just her luck at the same time. She dodged the attack.

The creature let a disgruntled noise as it raised a fist and tried to crush Pearl.

Pearl used spear as a means if leverage as she swung around to gracefully dodge again.

The creature fist missed and smashed into the ground, cause a large crater in the floor. The room shook as more dust fell from the ceiling. The creature roared and attempted to grab Pearl with its second set of hands.

Pearl quickly spun her spear before slicing one hand in half and the fingers off the other. The creature reared back, shocked by the attack. She smirked. The creature was slower than her. It didn't matter how strong it was, so long as she kept dodging and striking when the chance allowed.

The detached parts of the beast fell to the ground with a smack and moved compulsively. Pearl was caught off guard by the disgusting display. The fingers and the half of the creature's hand moved spastically for a few seconds before melting into small pools of black liquid. The individual pools moved toward each other until they gathered into one larger mass and swiftly darted toward Pearl.

Appalled and slightly frighten by what had just occurred, Pearl tried to dodge once more, but the small mass of the black substance was much faster than her. It shot off the ground and hit her squarely in the chest.

Pearl was knocked off her feet from the force of the attack and hit the ground with a thud. She felt the black substance on her chest move as it tried to spread itself over a larger surface area of Pearl's body. Pearl instantly snapped her eyes open and looked down the black goo that now stuck to clothes like a stain. She clawed and ripped away at the sticky liquid with one hand, but it merely stuck to her hand and began to move up her arm. With a horrified look on her face, Pearl got to her feet and frantically tried to remove the substance, forgetting about the source of the goo.

The inky, black creature moved to attack Pearl.

Pearl's attention quickly switched back over beast. She sloppily dodged the attack last minute by leaping into the air. She landed on the ground on all fours, spear still in hand. The creature moved toward her, lashing an arm out to reach for her. Pearl reacted by raising her spear and throwing it with all her might at the creature. The monster veered its head to the side, dodging the spear with ease as it flew past its head and bounced off the gem jutting out from its back with a clinking noise.

She tried to rise back up to her feet, but was surprised to find her hand that was covered in the black goo was stuck to the ground. She looked down at her hand and saw that the black goo was now spread out on the ground as well as up her arm in a thinning layer. She yanked and pulled at her arm to remove her hand from the ground, but it was no use.

Pearl looked up quickly and was instantly meet by the sight of the creature's hand as it gripped her entire body, only leaving her upper shoulders, neck, and head free.

The creature lifted her entire body into the air and bought her toward its face.

"No! Unhand me, you monster!" Pearl struggled in the constricting grip of the creature, but the more she struggled, the more she sunk into the creature's grasp. She stopped as she realized her struggling was futile. She looked into the burning red eyes of monster that had captured her. She swore she could see amusement dancing in the eyes of the foul beast as its hot, baited breath blew over her, blowing away strands of hair that had fallen in front of her face from the battle and her struggle.

Pearl began to struggle again, not wanting to let the creature take satisfaction from her defeat. Slowly she was devoured by the black goo it slowly snaked its way up her shoulders and to her neck. The panic she had felt earlier kicked into overdrive now. The goo trailed up and around her gem as she did her best to keep her face above the black tar-like substance. The goo was heavy and burned the wound that hadn't healed completely near her gem. Pearl closed her eyes and tried one last attempt to free herself by any means, but her efforts were fruitless.

"No!" Pearl bellowed as the black substance had consumed her completely.

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><p>Sorry for not updating sooner. I've been rather busy. To all my new and old readers, thanks for the support! I'm glad your enjoying my story! I'll try to update again as soon as possible.<p> 


	5. Found

I'm so sorry I haven't updated! Please forgive me...

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><p>"Garnet!"<p>

Garnet stirred at the sound of the distant and unclear voice. Her head was pounding; it felt as if a train had hit her.

"Garnet, wake up!"

The voice was familiar. She knew the voice, but she couldn't focus on who it belonged to. Her mind felt clouded, and what little focus she could find, she focused on not defusing. She felt someone place their hand on her shoulder and shook it rather roughly. Her eyes blinked open and she saw purple. She blinked a few more times, her eyesight coming back to her slowly as she focused in on the purple sight before her to make out the image of Amethyst leaning over her. A worried look was plastered on her face.

Garnet sat up slowly. She brought a hand up to her face, noticing her shades were missing.

Amethyst smiled, "man, you were out cold. I'm not gonna lie, you had me really worried there for a minute!"

"What…?" Garnet's voice trailed off. She was going to ask what had happened, but memories of their battle with the monster had started to come back to her. She frowned. They had been defeated rather easily.

"Here," Amethyst said.

Garnet turned to her, face becoming a blank slate once more. She saw Amethyst holding out dark-tinted, triangular glasses in her direction. Garnet smiled slightly as she took her shades back from Amethyst.

"I found them over there," Amethyst said, jabbing her thumb over her shoulder in the approximate location where she had found the glasses.

"Thanks," Garnet said with a flat voice as she slid her shades back on her face, covering all three of her eyes.

"No problem," Amethyst replied, getting off the floor and backing up a step to allow Garnet some personal space.

Garnet followed suit, brushing off a bit of dirt from clothes as she stood.

"Before you ask, I don't have a clue where the monster went. Not even that nasty goo is here anymore," Amethyst said as she placed a hand on her hip and looked around, "it was all gone by the time I woke up."

It was true. The walls were as clean as they could possibly be down in the dark halls of the old gem church. Garnet hummed. She didn't like the situation. She knew the monster that attacked them was a corrupted gem, and from all the Crystal Gems' experiences of stopping and apprehending corrupted gems, she knew the corrupted gems would almost certainly try to destroy them at all costs. There have only been a few exceptions in the past when it came to Rose and Steven, but even then those corrupted gems still tried to turn on them. So why would wildebeest creature just abandon them when it had the chance to get rid of them right then and there? Something was off.

Amethyst stayed quiet. She knew Garnet was thinking and didn't want to interrupt her, but she had some information that she felt was rather important to voice. She had woken up before Garnet, but what had stirred her awake was the sound of a loud boom come from somewhere below them. Or at least that what she thought. She couldn't quite pinpoint the exact location of the noise. She had woken up in the same disoriented state as Garnet, so she couldn't be for certain. Now Amethyst was the one frowning.

Nonetheless, she spoke up once again, "uhhh, by the way, I also heard a loud boom when I woke up earlier."

Garnet turned her attention to Amethyst. Without hesitation, she asked, "What direction? We need to go after that gem."

"From somewhere below us, I think," Amethyst pointed towards the ground.

"Alright, let's go," Garnet said with a nod.

Amethyst nodded back and the two gems took off down the hall in a sprint.

The two Crystal Gems had kept up a steady paced jog for what felt like an eternity, but was actually only a span of ten minutes. The twisting and repetitive halls made them feel as though they were on a wild goose chase.

Amethyst could feel a cold sweat come on as she looked ahead of her. Everything was exactly the same no matter how far they travelled or what turn they decided to follow. The only sign of progression was that the halls were becoming narrower the further they dove into the crypt, but maybe it was just her claustrophobia coming into play. She followed closely behind Garnet, figuring the fusion must have some idea of where to go and hoping she wasn't leading them aimlessly in any direction.

A couple more minutes had passed before they saw a big, stone door in the distance. Both gems unconsciously picked up their pace, making their way to the door faster.

The door was a dark gray color and had curving markings on it that resembled something close to writing. There was small symbols embedded in the framework of the door, but with the low lighting of the torches and actual height of the door, it made it impossible to get a good view of them.

Amethyst walked up to the door and placed a hand on its cool surface. Dust escaped from the touch. She applied pressure, but the door didn't budge. The door appeared to have been undisturbed for what looked like years.

"There's no way that gem went through here," Amethyst said. She glanced over her shoulder towards Garnet.

Garnet stood with a hand on her chin.

Amethyst turned back to the door and observed the odd writing. Her eyes followed the curves and ends of the words written in the stone. She wasn't from Homeworld, and though Rose and the others had taught her enough information about it to last her entire, extended lifetime, she didn't remember them ever teaching her about this sort of writing or language, or even the location in general. Amethyst found that to be an odd situation given that Pearl had done just about everything but force information about Homeworld down her throat.

As if speaking of the devil, Pearl's voice boomed loudly out of nowhere, causing Amethyst to nearly jump out of her skin.

It took a few seconds for Amethyst to register what had happened as her heart raced. She whipped around to Garnet.

"That was Pearl!" Amethyst shouted.

"It came from behind that door!" Garnet's voice was raised as she summoned her gauntlets.

Amethyst moved away as Garnet stepped forward and reeled an arm back. She bought her fist down on the door with tremendous force. Cracks trailed up and down the door, but it still stood firmly. She repeated her actions once more, breaking down the weakened door with ease this time.

The stone door crashed down to the floor and dust erupted in its place. Garnet and Amethyst paid no mind to it as they jumped through the dust cloud and over the fallen stone with their arms protecting their faces. The ground shook.

Amethyst moved her arms away from her face, summoning her whip to her side. The first thing she saw was a large stone with more odd writings that was unknown to her with two pillars on either sides of it. The dim light of the torches that casted from behind the two made it hard to peer any further into the room, but Garnet raised her gauntlets up when she spotted something dimly glowing in the distance.

"There!" she shouted as she ran over to the source of the light.

Amethyst followed suit, her whip trailing freely behind her.

Both stopped abruptly when they found that the source of light was coming from Pearl's staff. It stood at an angle; the tip of the staff was lodged in the ground, as though it had fallen from a high place.

"Pearl's staff…" Amethyst whispered under her breath with wide eyes. She pulled Pearl's staff out of the ground.

Garnet's expression changed to one of distress. She looked around, her guard still up.

"Pearl?" Garnet's voice carried through the room, "Pearl, say something."

She took a couple of steps around in the darkness. Her eyes swept across the room from behind her shades, tempted to remove them to take a better look around the room in the darkness, but ultimately decided against the idea as she slowly and cautiously moved forward. She detected nothing, not even with her future vision.

Her foot stopped mid-motion as Garnet's body went rigid.

Amethyst caught sight of this.

Garnet moved her foot back to its previous placement on the ground and dropped down to one knee.

Amethyst's face twisted in confusion. She couldn't see past Garnet, but it seemed as though she was messing with something on the floor. It wasn't until Garnet stood and turned around. She was carrying something black and dripping in her arms. It took a moment for Amethyst to realize that it was Pearl that she was carrying.

Pearl was out cold and it might have been for the best, because Amethyst could only imagine how much she would freak out if she were to be awake to see how much of a mess she was. She was drenched in what looked to be same muck that belonged to the monster they were fighting earlier. Only her face was visible, but that was more than likely due to Garnet wiping away the goo before picking her up off the ground.

"I-is she alright?" Amethyst's voice was quiet.

Garnet was slightly surprised. It was an unusual tone for Amethyst to take on, but Garnet knew it was only because the purple Crystal Gem was truly worried for Pearl's sake.

"She seems to be fine. She must've encountered the same creature we battled earlier and it seems the results were the same," Garnet answered.

"So it went after Pearl after it attacked us?" Amethyst voice was back to normal, "but why? Wasn't Pearl stuck in some hole all the way over in the first room? And why did it leave all that slime on Pearl, but not us?"

"I don't know," Garnet's answer was short and sweet. She had no clue how to answer all the questions Amethyst bombarded her with; she was asking herself similar questions. What the creature's goals were or even what corrupt gem it could be was beyond her.

"We should go back to the temple for now and return when we are more prepared," Garnet continued.

Amethyst stood for a moment with a bit of a sour look on her face. Something was up. She didn't like the idea of leaving the temple with the corrupt gem still wandering around, but didn't argue. They would return soon, she figured. Once again, she was left to follow behind Garnet as the taller gem made her back to the hall the two previously followed.

Amethyst stopped to look at the room one last time from the threshold of the door. She set her jaw and her grip on her whip tightened as she quickly used it to lash out and wrap around one of the closest pillars. With all her might, she collapsed the pillar in front of the door, successfully blocking it off.

Exhaling a puff of air hotly, she turned to continue following Garnet.

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><p>I've been in a rut lately, and though I lack motivation, I've been feeling it more so than usual right now. Sorry if this chapter isn't great or if the characters are off, but I just wanted to put something out otherwise I would never make progress. I love writing even if I'm not the greatest at it, but if I don't continue on something I always end up just giving up on it and I don't want that to happen to this fanfiction. So, I'm gonna try to stay motivated! Might fix this up later, but hopefully I'll be able to put out another chapter real soon.<p>

Thanks for reading, everybody!


	6. A Mission Incomplete

**A/N:** Hey everybody! I really want to thank y'all for the reviews. They really do make me very happy and encourage me to keep writing. I'm glad that y'all like my writing style and the story so far. A special thank you to the guest who left the review a couple of days ago. I didn't get the chance to moderate it in time to allow it to be shown public, but I have now turned moderation off in case this happens again. Now, on to the story!

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><p>"Ah, geez! I was really hoping we could've gone swimming today. Sorry, Connie," Steven apologized.<p>

"It's okay, Steven," Connie smiled to the curly haired boy, "the weather is always unpredictable. I mean, not even weathermen can get it right half the time!"

Steven laughed and Connie followed shortly afterwards with a giggle of her own. The two were sitting on the floor next to the two large windows by Steven's bed. They had been watching the rain shower. The sky was dark and gloomy with sunlight barely outlining the rain clouds. The ocean waves in the distance roared as they crashed against the sand shores. Connie had barely arrived at the temple when a drizzle had become a steady downpour. The two's plans to spend the day playing at the beach had quickly been put on halt.

"Hey! Why don't we watch a movie instead?" Steven jumped up with excitement, "Garnet took me to the movie store a couple of days ago and we bought a whole bunch of movies! There totally great!"

"You've already watched them?" Connie asked as she turned to face Steven.

"Well, no, but I can tell by the covers!" Steven exclaimed.

Steven stood up and ran past his TV to a door behind it. He opened it up and began digging around inside of it. Connie hugged her legs close to her chest. She rested her head atop her knees and watched as Steven fumbled around inside his closet. She smiled as he pulled out various objects and threw them over his shoulder while quietly muttering, "no, no, no."

"Ah-ha! Here we go!" Steven shouted. He turned around while holding a bundle of movies over his head, "Dah dun dun dun! New, never-seen-before movies!"

Connie raised her head up and sat crisscrossed as Steven ran over to her and handed her the stack of movies. There were four movies in total, all of different genres. She shuffled through the stack, quickly realizing that all the titles were all familiar to her. She had seen all the movies before.

"Oh! I've watched these before!" Connie said with a bit of surprise, "and they're all great! Well…maybe except for this one."

She held up a movie with a cover of a guy dressed as a clown handing a confused woman a bouquet of balloon flowers. She put the movie back with the rest and handed them back to Steven.

"Aww what?! You've already seen all of them?" Steven complained as he accepted the movies back. He had crestfallen look on his face as his shoulders slouched down in lack of excitement.

"Don't worry! I don't mind re-watching them! I really like the one about the cowboy who moves into the big city!" Connie said, trying to cheer Steven up.

Steven looked at the movies in his hands to figure out which one she could be talking about.

"Wild West City?" he asked.

Just as Connie was about to answer, a flash of light filled the room followed by a whirring noise. Connie and Steven both scrambled to peek over towards the warp pad. The Crystal Gems appeared from the beam of light.

"Your back!" Steven cheered with excitement in his eyes, "how did your mission go?"

Steven hopped down from his raised bedroom and dashed over to the three gems with Connie following, but taking the stairs rather than leaping down like Steven. It wasn't until Steven approached them that he noticed all the scrapes and bruises they had and Garnet carrying a unconscious and rather dirty Pearl. Steven's smile quickly dropped as he began to worry about the state the Gems had arrived in.

"Whoa! What happened?" Connie asked the question that filled Steven's mind.

Garnet was the one to answer, "We had a bit of trouble apprehending the corrupt gem at the church."

"Hey, but don't worry, little man! We for sure going to get it next time!" Amethyst said with vigor as she walked off the warp pad and ruffled Steven's hair. Amethyst glanced over at Connie. She gave a bit of a wave before walking over to the couch and plopping down onto it.

Steven looked at Pearl and then up to Garnet, "is she alright?"

"Other than a little dirty, she should be fine. The corrupted gem knocked us all out. She should be waking up soon," Garnet said as she walked over the couch.

"Oh! I'll go get a towel! Hold on!" Steven called out to Garnet as he ran towards the bathroom to get a towel.

Amethyst's eyes followed Garnet until she was right next to the couch. She turned over onto her stomach and cradled her head in one hand, "so, when are we going to go back for that corrupt gem anyways?"

"Not sure," Garnet replied as Steven arrived with a towel.

He laid it on the couch and Garnet rested Pearl on top of it, her legs stretching past the length of the towel and dirtying the couch a bit. Pearl didn't show a single sign of waking up any time soon, but Steven did his best to believe in Garnet's words. He messed with the bottom of his shirt a bit while worried thoughts went through his head. All the gems looked to be in pretty bad shape, especially since this mission wasn't suppose to be a difficult one according to Pearl before the Gems had left.

Steven jumped when he felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned to see Connie giving a comforting smile. Steven gave her a weak smile back and looked down to the floor.

Amethyst saw the exchange and gave a lazy, suspecting smile of her own, "hey, look. I think the storm is clearing up."

Steven instantly perked up as he and Connie ran over to the windows by the front door. It was true. The storm clouds appeared to be dissipating. Though there was still a light drizzle and some dark clouds overhead, the weather seemed manageable.

"The waves still look a little rough, but maybe now we can go into town and get a pizza or something. I'm starving!" Connie said to Steven.

"And then we could go to the arcade afterwards!" Steven added. The two laughed.

Amethyst glanced across the couch and saw Pearl. A slight frown took form on her face as she thought for a bit. She slowly got off the couch and stretched. Her wounds were just about healed.

"Count me in!" Amethyst said as she walked over to the two kids and threw her arms around both of their shoulders.

"Sure, Amethyst!" Steven chuckled.

"What are we waiting for? Let's go have some fun!" Amethyst whooped as she dragged the two out the door.

"Be careful!" Garnet called out to the three as they rushed out the door.

Garnet looked down at Pearl one last time. Though she was also worried about her teammate, she knew she should be just fine. She turned and began walking toward the temple door that lead to all of the Gem's rooms. She had to think of plan to take down the corrupt gem and would check up on the unconscious gem a little later if she didn't come looking for her first.

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><p><strong>AN:** :]


	7. A Dream, A Memory

_"You are workforce gems created to serve under the kingdoms of the Four Diamond authorities. You are to work constantly and without opinion or emotions in regard to your work. All labor must be finished orderly, timely, and most importantly, PERFECT! Any work that is less than favorable will result in the extermination of the gem or gems responsible for the poor labor quality and will be replaced immediately. Areas of work where you will be placed vary and no exact branch of work is guaranteed, so don't count on any one location or field of labor."_

_Complete silence as the sound of boots ceased._

_"You rejects should consider yourselves very lucky to be allowed to live and serve the Four Great Diamonds in anyway possible. Consider it a second chance at bettering the community and having some worth to the almighty Diamonds."_

_Another pause._

_"Now, take them away."_

_Pearl watched as a large, red colored gem with a robe draped over her shoulder walked off stage followed by two larger green gems in amour._

_She looked around._

_She was standing in a crowd of gems of all different kinds; most with dead, hollow looks on their faces that stared blankly ahead. Everybody was packed together tightly with hardly any space to move with their hands bound in white, metal-like handcuffs that covered and held their wrists and hands in place. The air was hot and sticky and Pearl shivered in disgust when she felt the breathes of the gems behind her hit the nape of her neck. She had been brought to this small cramp room after being transported from a cell in a large, institutional building of some sort. Irritation began to set in as she craved for the spaciousness of her empty cell. She had no idea what was going on or why._

_Several gems of various colors with weapons opened the doors in the back of the room Pearl and the rest of the captive gems had used earlier to enter through, "Alright! Move it! MOVE IT!"_

_When the crowd didn't move, whether out of fear or possible mental deficiency, the gems with weapons began attacking the crowd and forcing the captive gems out. Out of fear, Pearl didn't move at first, but as the crowd of gems behind started pushing and shoving her to move, she reluctantly proceeded forward. Her eyes shot around in a panicked state, trying her best to be as unnoticeable as possible and cover up her fear as they shuffled closer the doors where the _other_ gems, the cruel ones with weapons, were waiting with malicious grins._

_They were staring right at her, she was taller than most of the other gems in the crowd. She crouched and ducked her head a bit to make herself as small as possible to better blend in. She jumped and covered her face with her cuffed hands when she heard a guttural cry of pain come from a small purple gem that was no longer standing beside her. The unfortunate gem was stuck down by one of the weapons as they passed through the doors and was now being tortured for what looked like fun by the _other_ gems. Pearl used this chance to move forward more hastily to avoid detection._

_The crowd had walked down a long hall before reaching another set of large double doors where two guards with weapons drawn were waiting. They open the door and sunlight flooded in. Pearl covered her eyes, but still moved blindly forward with all the others._

_Pearl couldn't remember the last time she was outside. It had been so long, she had nearly forgotten the feeling of warmth from sun. Fresh air filled her nostrils as a strong gust of wind hit against her. It was relieving and anxiety inducing at the same time. Somewhere burned into her mind, she knew she shouldn't be outside, but it was so refreshing that she couldn't help but lavish in the feeling. She had been locked up in a cell for heavens know how long._

_It was just procedure, though. It was how they broke weaker and defective gems. They would lock them away, take away all interaction and stimulation, and injury or kill any one who dared to defy protocol. Pearl had only managed to stay relatively safe and sane by keeping to herself and doing whatever was told of her._

_"GO! GO! GO! MOVE IT!" Pearl heard a gruff voice yell from somewhere behind her as she continued to be forced to move forward by the crowd._

_She hadn't even noticed the transportation vehicles waiting for them at the far end of the barricaded courtyard until she was sectioned off in a group that boarded one. She quickly huddled over in one corner of the vehicle as her group was piled in. It only took a moment for everyone to be loaded in and the doors to be slammed shut. She waited desperately and with fleeting hope as the vehicle started up and drove off._

_Where?_

_She had no clue. All she knew was that it was apparently some place where she would work without end until she was no longer needed._

_Depression began to set in and she slumped against the corner where she was curled up. Her body felt weak and a dark, hollowness found it's way in the pit of her stomach. She glanced around, trying to find any sort of hope among her fellow captive gems, but there was none to be found. Everyone just stared emptily with blank expressions. They didn't appear to be in any distress at all or even cared about what was going on._

_The vehicle traveled a ways before it finally stopped. The doors were opened again and captive gems were corralled out in front of a large, dark colored building._

_Pearl was in shock at first when she exited the vehicle and looked around. What she saw was nearly unbelievable!_

_Gems! Gems everywhere! Walking about freely, talking to each other, entering and exiting buildings of their own free will. They were all going about life as if everything was some casual day, as if her and the captive gems didn't exist in that moment, as she stood there in handcuffs. The sight was unfathomable. Mix feelings swirled around in Pearl's chest as she looked on._

_"Hey! Keep moving or do I have to teach you a lesson?" Pearl only heard the voice as a whip with several, golden lashes that ended with black stones lashed out near her feet, barely missing her and tearing several lines in the white, stone ground._

_Pearl was startled and tripped backwards. A large gray colored gem with golden hair approached her with a menacing smile._

_"Aww, I missed," the gem glared at Pearl._

_Pearl's eyes widened with fear. She tried to scurry backwards and away from the gem, but the gem was already in front of her._

_"Well, I'll make sure to get a direct hit this time," the gem said as she reeled her arm back with her whip in hand._

_Pearl felt her whole being go cold as she recoiled into herself on the ground._

_"Nuummite!" Pearl heard a voice and felt no pain._

_"Hurry up and get inside!" another more petite gem walked out the large, dark building that was behind Pearl, catching Nuummite's attention and stopping her before she had a chance to attack._

_"Sorry, Galena. I was just taking care of a straggler," Nuummite apologized with a malevolent tone about her voice as she turned her attention from Galena back to Pearl._

_"And stop killing all of the workers. How the hell is any work suppose to get done around here if you keep killing them all!" Galena yelled at Nuummite._

_Nuummite scoffed, "buzz kill."_

_Pearl remained completely still, not daring to move or even risk a peek at who ever Galena was._

_"Get up! What are you still cowering for? She didn't even strike you," Galena scowled._

_Pearl didn't move at first, but as her mind raced, she realized that it would be a more foolish idea to not move than to move. Slowly, she forced her shaking arms and legs to move her off the ground and stand._

_"Ha! Look at that face!" Nuummite laughed as she brought a hand to rest on her hip._

_Galena pulled out a card like object and held it over Pearl's handcuffs. A small square on the top of the card flashed red three times and then green as odd, green lines ran across Pearl's handcuffs. The lines popped the handcuffs open and they fell to the ground with a thud._

_"Get going before I do have this brute get rid of you," Galena growled at Pearl as she motion towards Nuummite._

_Pearl didn't hesitate to listen to the silver gem that was apparently named Galena. She moved unsteadily towards the building and entered._

_As soon as she entered, she saw that the building was actually a factory. The other captive gems from her group were already hard at work._

_She stood dumbfounded at first; not knowing what to do, but then a familiar, stern voice came from beside her._

_"You will work in that section over there. You will build whatever blue prints are given to you and shall finish a complete set by sundown. Failure to do so will result in having you replaced," Galena said coldly._

_Pearl looked at Galena for a second. She studied her face and saw the dark bags under her eyes and the wrinkles on the corners of her lips from wearing a constant frown. Galena's cold, blue eyes moved to glance down at Pearl and Pearl took that as a sign to get moving._

_She walked over to her assigned station and saw a rolled up paper already waiting for her. Pearl picked it up and unrolled it. It was a blue print for some kind of war-like device. With a troubled look on her face, she tried to read the blue prints, but she no idea how to build it._

_Pearl moved the blue print down and turned around in her station to see a conveyer belt carrying of all sorts of material in the center of the room. She looked back to the blue print and then to the conveyer belt again._

_Reluctantly, she began to try and built the device on the blue print._

_Pearl glanced out the windows far above her with sweat dripping down her face. The sun was beginning to set._

_Her eyes moved down to her work. Though it had taken multiple attempts and much frustration, she had managed to figure out how to build the device and finish her set._

_She looked down at her hands. They were bruised and riddled with stinging cuts._

_She used the back of her forearm to wipe the sweat from her brow, smearing dirt and grease on her face._

_"Evaluation of worker 3648192."_

_Pearl turned to see Galena standing in front of her station with another orange colored gem standing beside her with a clipboard._

_The orange gem rushed over to the devices Pearl had built and examined them. She wrote something on her clipboard as she looked over Gelena, "impeccable work, actually. Not a single flaw in the design."_

_"Good," was Galena's only response at first._

_"Looks like you get to live another day. Give her the next blue print," Galena said as she fixated rigid eyes on Pearl._

_She turned and began to walk off, "I expect a set by sunrise."_

_The orange gem quickly handed Pearl a new blue print and rushed after Galena._

_An unsettled look crossed Pearl's face as she watched them go and unrolled the blue print. Distress quickly took over as she noticed that the blue print was for another device more complex than the last._

_"I was barely able to finish the last device…" She whispered to herself._

_She glanced back to the window and saw that it was nighttime. She had even less time to figure out and build this new, more difficult device._

_The same depression she had felt early began to settle in once again as stress tighten the muscles in her neck. She brought a hand to cover her face as she heard the sounds of all the other gems working. She moved her hand away and saw gems moving back and forth from the conveyer belt in the center of the room like clockwork, like machines. They all still carried those dead-faced expression, their eyes devoid of life._

_Pearl felt tears burning in her eyes and a odd sound caught in the back of her throat. Her heart raced as realization began to set in._

_This was it. She was what she going to become. A lifeless slave forced to work until her death. A hollow shell of a gem and no one would ever even know or care._

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><p><strong>AN: **Woof! What a chapter to write. The reason I released two chapters today is due to the fact that both of the chapters were originally meant to be one, but I decided to instead split it up. I'm already working on the next chapter, but I'm going out of town tomorrow and won't be back to finish it for a couple of days. Just a heads up. The next chapter is going to be a continuation of this.


	8. A Dream, A Memory (2)

**A/N: **Shout out to SpaceWonder368, 123lionclan, and the guest(s) who keep reviewing and everybody who has reviewed thus far! You guys give me motivation!

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><p>Time passed, slowly but surely. Pearl worked night and day without end.<p>

A day her hands didn't bleed or sweat didn't drip down her face was a day she was unfamiliar with.

She dragged a huge piece of metal to her station.

She had given up on self-pitying for the most part, it was pointless.

All memories of any previous life before, whether for the better or for worse, were dull in her mind. She was surprised she hadn't just erased the memories from her mind entirely. Instead, they lingered like old, timeworn pictures with the angles and colors obscured.

They were reminders that it hadn't always been like this, even if life before wasn't much better.

Long days, and what felt like even longer nights, calloused hands, and aching neck. She used the back of her arm to wipe away sweat that had gathered on brow. Her head pounded as per usual, but something was a bit off on this day.

She had finished her latest project what felt like some time ago, yet Galena hadn't shown up to examine her handiwork. She looked down at her creation. It was a white rod with black wire traveling up the sides and a black handle.

Disgust crossed her face for a fleeting moment, knowing full well what the machine's purpose was. It was a rod used for oppression. It would send out electoral waves upon the victim through contact. It was something close to a taser, but with much more power. She would know considering she shocked herself by accident while constructing one. It was not at full power and she dropped it quickly after touching it, but it was still enough to paralyze her hand for a few minutes and send a jolt up her entire arm.

Pearl's eyes drift to the corner of her station where all the others she had built were placed. She lost most interest in all the items she had built, but it didn't change the fact that she couldn't ignore the purpose for them. They bugged at her, in the back of her mind, she knew precisely what she was doing.

She hated it. She hated being forced to do what had to to live such a pathetic life and she had to admit, she actually begun to hate herself, too, for not being able to do anything about it or for giving up with what seemed like without a fight.

She felt powerless in the situation, but what else could she do…

Nothing. For a weak gem such as herself that was designed for no other purpose than to serve others, there was absolutely nothing she could do.

She tore her eyes away from the rods and looked blankly at one of the walls of her station. Her tired eyes fixated on nothing as her eyelids lowered. She brought her hands up to rest on either of her sides, as if hugging herself. She never had been given enough time to just linger and do nothing since she had first started in the factory. It wasn't until now that she could really pay attention to all the aches and pains that her body had and the desperation of her mind begging for some rest.

Pearl's eyes sunk to the ground and her eyelids sunk even further so. Her skin felt clammy to the touch and her gem seeming a bit lackluster. She felt her mouth parted a bit as she her mind drifted.

She closed her eyes completely.

"Worker 3648192," a voice rung out in her mind.

Pearl instantly jumped; her eyes wide open as she spun around to face a familiar face.

It was Galena.

She studied Pearl for a moment.

Pearl's heart stopped. Had she been caught trying to rest her eyes?

"It seems that there was an incident during the construction of a space voyager and there is a need for new workers in a factory higher up than our own," Galena trailed off as she sauntered over to rods Pearl had built.

"They are requesting for gems that will be capable of comprehending and understanding blueprints and designs for the construction of new space shuttles and weaponry," she picked up a rod and scrutinized it before turning it on and facing Pearl.

Pearl felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise as a cold sweat formed.

Galena smirked and her eyes fell down to the weapon held casually in her hand, as if it were nothing to be concerned about and with a bit of a wry laugh she looked back to Pearl.

Pearl's breath got caught in her throat and she jumped back when Galena lashed the object out toward her suddenly, nearly touching the tip to her torso, "you will be one of the gems to go as a replacement."

Pearl closed her eyes in fear, but stood as stiff as a board. She felt as if she was about to sick. She waited for anything to happen at that moment, but the only thing that came was a click, the sound of footsteps walking away from her, and a chuckle.

It only took a few moments for two gems much larger than herself to enter station with handcuffs in hand and escort her out of the building and into another transportation vehicle.

Pearl's eyes were glued to the ground as she walked and she didn't even attempt to look at the outside life. She knew it would only bring about bad feelings if she did.

She stepped into the vehicle without protest and took to a corner as she did some time ago when she was first transported. She hugged her legs close to her chest as best as she could with handcuffs on and looked straight at the doors in the back of the vehicle. She waited for others to eventually enter, but no one else did as she heard the engine start up. Her eyes moved to the wall next to her as she hugged her legs even harder. She was going to the new factory all alone.

The truck took longer than Pearl originally thought it would to arrive at the new factory, but she didn't complain. It had given her a little time to think to herself and mentally prepare for the change. She had even got the chance to close her eyes and relax, or at least as best as she could. Her body seemed to relish in the little time that it was granted to unwind a bit, though her only complaint in that moment would've been how uncomfortably warm she felt. Her mind had only begun to drift elsewhere when the vehicle jerked to a stop and knocked her forward.

She got up on her hands and knees, vertigo blanketing her mind as a nauseating feeling swept over her. She was still, unable to move with her head hanging down when the two gems escorting her opened the doors in the back of the truck.

"Oh, does the little defect have motion sickness?" one of the gems mocked with fake sympathy as she entered in through the doors. The gem grabbed Pearl's arm roughly and forced her stand. Though it had sickened her, Pearl had to admit she was rather glad the larger gem did so in some sense, because she knew if they had asked her to stand on her own she wouldn't have been able to.

The gem forced her out of the vehicle and over toward a line of smaller gems. Pearl felt herself trip over her own feet a couple times as she was dragged along, but her mind was too busy trying to overcome the headrush she felt.

"Wait in this line. Try to run and we'll kill you in a heartbeat," the gem escorting her growled as Pearl was forcefully stopped.

Before she could even register what was going on, she felt weight disappear from her arms. Pearl looked down and saw that her handcuffs had been removed. She quickly rubbed her wrist and looked around like a frightened animal. In front of her, a line of gems stood near a long stretch of the building, waiting. Most were of pale hues of white, tan, and pink, but there were some that were more of dark gray-black hues.

Pearl caught sight of something moving from the corner of her eye and turned to look behind her, the fog of vertigo slowly clearing from her mind.

Behind her, she saw that the building was made in a shape of an L and there had appeared to be a set of doors to which she saw her escort walking toward. Curiosity got the better of her and she couldn't help but wondered where the gem that had been escorting her was going after she had just threatened her. Pearl looked around some more. The area she was in held some semblance of the area of the other factor, but the only main difference was that it seemed to lack any sign of life other than the gems gathered at the factor. All the other buildings surrounding the factor were tall and looming.

There stood a couple of guards, but the more Pearl observed, the more she realized that if she were try to make a run for it that she might actually stand a chance of getting away with it.

But the more Pearl thought about it realistically and logically, the more she realized that that was only hopeful thinking. Even if Pearl did manage to somehow elude the guards, then what? There was nowhere for her to run to.

With a sigh, she lowered her head in defeat. She looked back forward.

Patiently, she waited in line.

Slowly, the gems in front of her shuffled forward and she would follow suit. Staring down at her feet, she waited. Not much went on inside her of head. Her body still ached, but she simply ignored the feeling as the hot sun beamed down on all of the gems waiting in the line.

Pearl raised her arm to her forehead to wipe away the sweat that had gathered from sun's heat. She heard the sound of the line moving forward and made to make another step forward, as well, but a sudden dizzy spell struck her and she stumbled to the side.

Pearl tumbled flat on her stomach when something bumped into her from behind.

"HEY! WHAT THE HECK DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING!?" someone yelled.

Pearl quickly flipped around and scurried backwards on the ground in fear that a guard was the one who pushed her down.

"LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE! YOUR GOING TO HELP ME PICK ALL OF THESE UP, YOU HEAR?!" a small, red colored gem with a tote bag continued to yell at her.

Pearl was a bit dumbfounded at the statement and the gem she saw until she noticed all of the letters that littered the ground.

A light flickered on in Pearl's head and realized that the small gem was a messenger of some sort.

The red gem kneeled down and grumbled as her hand reached out to pick up all of the letters that were scattered everywhere. Pearl watched her for a moment, still stunned.

The red gem picked up a letter, but stopped half way of putting back in her tote bag and, without looking at Pearl, roared, "WELL?"

Pearl watched as the letter in the red gem's hand began to smolder at her touch and small wisps of smoke began to rise from her hand.

Shaking her head a bit to snap out of her daze, Pearl quickly moved start picking up the letters, fearing the temper of the red gem. She quickly began to gathered them in her arms.

"No, no, no! I'm gonna miss her! She's gonna leave!" Pearl spared a quick glance at the red gem when she heard her whispering to herself with an odd expression that was a mix between anger and franticness.

"I have to hurry! I have to hurry! I have to hurry!" the smaller gem kept repeating to herself like a mantra.

Pearl finished gathering the letters that were by her and neatly organized them in an orderly stack before holding them out to the red gem. The red gem was busy shoving the letters into the tote messily, but looked to Pearl with a glare. Quickly, she forced the letters into her bag and snatched the letters from her.

The enraged red gem stood, and with a hand full of letters, she motioned at Pearl and growled, "If I wasn't in such a hurry I would-!"

"WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?" another aggressive voice cut the red gem off midsentence.

Pearl saw a look of horror cross the small, red gem's face as she looked somewhere past Pearl.

Pearl quickly twisted her head around and saw a guard approaching them with a weapon drawn.

Pearl quickly scurried further away from the red gem as the guard approached them. She jumped when she felt something touch her hand in the process and saw that it was a letter; she must have missed one. Pearl looked back to the guard with fear covering her in a cold sweat, but was surprised when the guard walked past her. She had seemed to be more focused on the messenger gem rather than her.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?!" the guard shouted, stooping over the red gem with her hand on her hips and a menacing look in her eyes.

"It wasn't!-..." the smaller gem said with a hint of her fiery temper as she balled her hands into fists, but trailed off as her eyes quickly moved down to Pearl.

Pearl froze in terror. Her eyes widened and she gave the red gem a pleading look. If the red gem told her what happened, Pearl knew she would receive a grave punishment.

For only a second, a hesitant look made it's way on the red gem's face before it vanished and she looked to the ground.

She continued," I- I just dropped some letters. I told that pathetic gem to help me pick them back up…"

A smirk crossed the guard's face, but she continued to glare down at the red gem, "and who said you had any command over this gem? Your only barely above her, so unless you want to end up just like her… YOU BETTER REMEMBER YOUR PLACE AND GET MOVING!"

The red gem was startled and backed away from the guard before running off with her letters still in her hand.

"You better be glad I don't have authority over you, you little runt! But I'll be sure to inform your quadrant leader!" the guard shouted as the red gem ran away.

Pearl watched the gem go, extremely grateful to the small messenger. She remembered the letter by her hand and quickly picked it up. She turned her attention to the guard, who was laughing at the fear she arose in the red gem, and Pearl made a risky decision.

Pearl hastily folded the letter and tucked it away in her clothing. If the guard found the letter, the red gem would surely suffer a weighty price.

It was an eye for an eye.

Pearl heard the guard finish laughing and swiftly moved to her original position. The guard turned and looked at her with an annoyed expression.

"What are you waiting for? Get back in line!" the guard commanded as she kicked Pearl, not noticing the crime she had just committed.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: **I didn't want to make this any longer than two chapters long, but I don't want to make these chapter extremely long either. So, there will be a third chapter of this flashback/dream before going back to the story's 'real-world' or conscious setting.

Thank you all for continuing to read this story! Lots of love to all of you!


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